Here's a little pick me up for those times when the job search just feels sucky. Open your resume and save as another file. I like to call them Play files. Imagine the job you’re going for, maybe it’s your dream job, the job you want right now or an open position you’ve found that you’re going to pursue. Using job boards and company websites can give you great job titles and descriptions. At the start of your resume work history simply add the job title and paste the job description below. Re-format to fit the rest of the resume. Embellish each job duty as if you were responsible for it and totally rocked it. For instance:

Assistant Account Manager-Super Duper Ad Agency

Manage company web site with daily copy updates. Contributed new section highlighting company employees.

Add the rest.

Take a long look, imagine this is your new job and you’ve just updated your resume to include it. Sure this is a bit of fakery and it may seem silly but sometimes just imagining your preferred outcome (and in this case actually viewing it) can help you reach that goal! Don’t give up!

I was at a marketing communications breakfast presentation and talking with a friend who also happens to be a total rock star. He said something that really stuck with me, “If you need to start networking it’s probably too late.”

This applies to college seniors and recent graduates as much as it does to anyone already in the workforce. Second semester of your senior year is NOT the time to think about starting your network. You’re going to need to make contact, establish relationships and start a dialogue if you want any kind of network to pay off. And yes, you don’t know that many people in the profession you’ve chosen for yourself but unless you’re graduating from a Tibetan monastery you do know people.

So start early, add often and use it. Don’t let the thing die just because you got Netflix.

Are you derailing your career before it’s even begun? On the outside do you look like a gung-ho job seeker, sending out resumes, networking with a vengeance and plotting world domination while on the inside (and in reality) you’re hesitating, procrastinating and really only plotting your next Facebook post? It happens a lot more than you think and one reason can be sheer size of scope.

How’s your resume? Have you read it, really read, it in the past month? If not, open it up and dust it off. A resume is a living document and should be reevaluated regularly. And if you're not getting the responses you expect from it this is definitely the time to examine the content.

Read it carefully and think about what you’ve learned in your job search since you created it, asking yourself these questions:

Are you up to speed on your industry? Do you know what the bigwigs are up to? If you want to catch the eye of your employer or interviewer and blow them away bring up current trends, recent market shifts or industry predictions and watch them melt into stunned little puddles of joy. When you can speak about matters pertinent to an entry-level position that's fabulous. When you can speak with knowledge about matters that go beyond your pay grade then that’s just fabulouser. Way fabulouser. Yes, I made that word up.

I think there’s a saying somewhere that trying to be all things to all people results in being no things to no people. I probably (undoubtedly) have that all wrong but you get the point. When I was recruiting for an ad agency I would frequently get resumes with covers that read, “I’m open to whatever you think I’d be qualified for.” Or something to that effect. I could only guess that their strategy was to be flexible and willing to help with whatever need that I might have.

We’ve all read some great advice on how to ace an interview and get hired (if you're a hiring manager here are a couple of tips for you, too) but we sometimes make the mistake of thinking we’re interviewing in a perfect world. Unfortunately, it’s entirely possible you’ll meet with someone who doesn’t actually know how to conduct an interview.

I recently read yet another article about the dismal prospects for new and recent graduates that spotlighted eight or so young people desperate to find work. Only one of them had a full time job in her chosen field and the rest were either in survival jobs or in other industries entirely. On a whim (because I’m nothing if not whimsical) I went to LinkedIn to look up their profiles. As a major champion of LinkedIn and its magical properties I’m on the site about a million times a day.

And guess what? Only four of them had profiles. Of those four, one had 30 connections, one with 39 and the other two had one each. The remaining were nowhere to be found. Nowhere. As a former advertising recruiter I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to be findable on LinkedIn. A fully fleshed out profile can give me a ton of insight into who you are, your skills, a link to your blog, your resume, and a ton more. I can read your recommendations, see what groups you belong to and I can keep your profile in a folder that I can access anywhere.

My dad used to tell me that if someone offered you a job you took it and you did whatever you were told! And he also walked 150 miles to school through hungry Visigoths or something like that. There’s a bit of a misconception among entry-level job hunters that to be a good employee means unquestioning obedience, head down compliance and soul sucking assimilation. It doesn’t. What it means is the secret to long term success, career satisfaction and, ultimately, respect for your abilities. Being a good employee is good for YOU.